


10m* Colitge S^rns. 1 



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Thirty. 






(FROM PLUTARCH.) 



NEW YORK: 
PHILLIPS & HUNT. 

CINCINNATI : 
WALDEN & STOWE. 
188-,. * 




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The "Home College Series" will contain one hundred short papers on 
a wide range of subjects— biographical, historical, scientific, literary, domes- 
tic, political, and religions. Indeed, the religious tone will characterize all 
of them. They are written for every body— for all whose leisure is limited, 
but who desire to use the minutes for tlie enrichment of life. 

These papers contain seeds from the best gardens in all the world of 
human knowledge, and if dropped wisely into good soil, will bring forth 
harvests of beauty and value. 

They are for the young— especially for young people (and older people, 
too) who are out of the schools, who are full of "business" and "cares," 
who are in danger of reading nothing, or of reading a sensational literature 
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One of these papers a week read over and over, thought and talked about 
at "odd times," will give in one year a vast fund of information, an intel- 
lectual quickening, worth even more than the mere knowledge, acquired, a 
taste for solid reading, many hours of simple and wholesome pleasure, and 
ability to talk intelligently and helpfully to one's friends. 

Pastors may organize "Home College" classes, or "Lyceum Reading 
Unions," or "Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circles," and help the 
young people to read and think and talk and live to worthier purpose. 

A young man may have his own little " college " all by himself, read this 
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ory," and thus gain knowledge, and, what is better, a love of knowledge. 

And what a young man may do in this respect, a young woman, and both 
old men aud old women, may do. 

J. H. Vincent. 

New York, Jan., 18S3. 



Copyright, 1883, by Phillips & Hunt, New York. 



gforoe College Series, gumber Cbhtg. 
ALEXANDER. 

[FROM PLUTARCH.] 
BORN B. C. 355-DIED 323. 



Alexander was born on the sixth of Hecatoinboeon, (July,) 
which the Macedonians call Lous, the same day that the tem- 
ple of Diana at Ephesus was burned. 

When but a youth, there was something superlatively 
great and sublime in his ambition, far above his years. 
When he was asked by some of the people about him, 
"Whether he would not run in the Olympic race?" (for 
he was swift of foot,) he answered, u Yes, if I had kings 
for my antagonists." 

Embassadors from Persia happening to arrive in the ab- 
sence of his father, Philip, and Alexander, receiving them in 
his stead, gained upon them greatly by his politeness and 
solid sense. He asked them no childish or trifling question, 
but inquired the distances of places, and the roads through 
the upper provinces of Asia ; he desired to be informed of 
the character of their king, in what manner he behaved to 
his enemies, and in what the strength and power of Persia 
consisted. The embassadors were struck with admiration, 
and looked upon the celebrated shrewdness of Philip as noth- 
ing in comparison of the lofty and enterprising genius of his 
son. 

When Philonicus the Thessalian offered the horse named 
Bucephalus in sale to Philip, at the price of thirteen talents, 
the king, with the prince and many others, went into the 
field to see some trial made of him. The horse appeared 
extremely vicious and unmanageable, and was so far from 
suffering himself to be mounted, that he would not bear to be 
spoken to, but turned fiercely upon all the grooms. Philip was 
displeased at their bringing him so wild and ungovernable 



2 ALEXANDER. 

a horse, and bade them take him away. But Alexander, 
who had observed him well, said, "What a horse are they 
losing, for want of skill and spirit to manage him! " Philip 
at first took no notice of this; but, upon the prince's often 
repeating the same expression, and showing great uneasiness, 
he said, " Young man, you find fault with your elders, as if 
you knew more than they, or could manage the horse better." 
"And I certainly could," answered the prince. "If you 
6hould not be able to ride him, what forfeiture will you sub- 
mit to for your rashness ? " "I will pay the price of the 
horse." 

Upon this all the company laughed, but the king and 
prince agreeing as to the forfeiture, Alexander ran to the 
horse, and laying hold on the bridle, turned him to the sun ; 
for he had observed, it seems, that the shadow which fell 
before the horse, and continually moved as he moved, greatly 
disturbed him. While his fierceness and fury lasted, he kept 
speaking to him softly and stroking him; after which he 
gently let fall his mantle, leaped lightly upon his back, and 
got his seat very safe. Then, without pulling the reins too 
hard, or using either whip or spur, he set him a-going. As 
soon as he perceived his uneasiness abated, and that he 
wanted only to run, he put him in a full gnllop, and pushed 
him on both with the voice and spur. 

Philip and all his court were in great distress for him at 
first, and a profound silence took place. But when the 
prince had turned him and brought him straight back, they 
all received him with loud acclamations, except his father, 
who wept for joy, and, kissing him, said, "Seek another 
kingdom, my son, that may be worthy of thy abilities; for 
Macedonia is too small for thee." 

Perceiving that Alexander did not easily submit to author- 
ity, because he would not be forced to any thing, but that 
he might be led to his duty by the gentler hand of reason, 
Philip took the method of persuasion rather than of command. 



ALEXANDER. 3 

He saw that his education was a matter of too great impor- 
tance to be trusted to the ordinary masters in music and the 
common circle of sciences. He therefore sent for Aristotle, 
the most celebrated and learned of all the philosophers, and 
gave him the charge of his son's education. 

When Philip went upon his expedition against Byzantium, 
Alexander was only sixteen years of age, yet he was left 
regent of Macedonia and keeper of the seal. The Medari 
rebelling during his regency, he attacked and overthrew 
them, took their city, expelled the barbarians, planted there 
a colony of people collected from various parts, and gave it 
the name of Alexandropolis. He fought in the battle of 
Chseronea against the Greeks, and is said to have been the 
first man that broke the " sacred band " of Thebans. 

He was only twenty years old when he succeeded to the 
crown, and he found the kingdom torn to pieces by danger- 
ous parties and implacable animosit ies. The barbarous nations, 
even those that bordered upon Macedonia, could not brook 
subjection, and they longed for their natural kings. He 
quieted the commotions, and put a stop to the rising war 
among the barbarians by marching with the utmost expedi- 
tion as far as the Danube, where he fought a great battle 
with Syrmus, king of the Triballi, and defeated him. 

Some time after this, having intelligence that the Thebnns 
had revolted, and that the Athenians had adopted the same 
sentiments, he resolved to show them he was no longer a boy, 
and advanced immediately through the pass of Thermopylae. 
"Demosthenes," he said, "called me a boy, while I was in 
Illyricum and among the Triballi, and a stripling when in 
Thessaly ; but I will show him before the walls of Athens 
that I am a man." 

A general assembly of the Greeks being held, at the 
Isthmus of Corinth, they came to a resolution to send their 
quotas with Alexander against the Persians, and he was 
unanimously elected captain-general. Many statesmen and 



ALEXANDER. 



philosophers came to congratulate him on the occasion ; and 
he hoped that Diogenes, of Sinope, who then lived at Corinth, 
would be of the number. Finding, however, that he made 
but little account of Alexander, and that he preferred the 
enjoyment of his leisure in a part of the suburbs called Cra- 
nium, he sent to see him. Diogenes happened to be lying in 
the sun; and at the approach of so many people he raised 
himself up a little, and fixed his eyes upon Alexander. The 
king addressed him in an obliging manner, and asked him, 
"If there was any thing he could serve him in?" "Only 
stand a little out of my sunshine," said Diogenes. Alexan- 
der, we are told, was struck with such surprise at finding 
himself so little regarded, and saw something so great in 
that carelessness, that, while his courtiers were ridiculing the 
philosopher as a monster, he said, "If I were not Alexander 
I should wish to be Diogenes." 

He chose to consult the oracle about the event of the war, 
and for that purpose he went to Delphi. He happened to 
arrive there on one of the days called inauspicious, upon 
which the law permitted no man to put his question. At 
first he sent to the prophetess, to entreat her to do her office ; 
but finding she refused to comply, and alleged the law in 
her excuse, he went himself and drew her by force into the 
temple. Then, as if conquered by his violence, she said, 
"My son, thou art invincible." Alexander hearing this, said, 
"He wanted no other answer, for he had the very oracle he 
desired." 

Upon taking Gordium, which is said to have been the seat 
of the ancient Midas, he found the famous chariot, fastened 
with cords, made of the bark of the cornel- tree, and was in- 
formed of a tradition, firmly believed among the barbarians, 
" That the Fates had decreed the empire of the world to the 
man who should untie the knot." Most historians say that 
it was twisted so many private ways, and the ends so artfully 
concealed within, that x\lexander, finding he could not untie 



ALEXANDER. 



it, cut it asunder with his sword, and so made many ends 
instead of two. But Aristobulus affirms, that he easily untied 
it by taking out the pin which fastened the yoke to the beam, 
and then drawing out the yoke itself. 

He was hindered in his war against the Persians by sick- 
ness, which some attribute to his great fatigues, and others 
to his bathing in the river Cydnus, whose water is extremely 
cold. His physicians durst not give him any medicines, be- 
cause they thought themselves not so certain of the cure as 
of the danger they must incur in the application ; for they 
feared the Macedonians, if they did not succeed, would sus- 
pect them of some bad practice. Philip, the Acarnanian, saw 
how desperate the king's case was, as well as the rest ; but, 
besides the confidence he had in his friendship, he thought it 
the highest ingratitude, when his master was in so much 
danger, not to risk something with him, in exhausting all his 
art for his relief. He therefore attempted the cure, and found 
no difficulty in persuading the king to wait with patience till 
his medicine was prepared, or to take it when ready ; so de- 
sirous was he of a speedy recovery, in order to prosecute the 
war. 

In the meantime, Parrnenio sent him a letter from the camp, 
advising him " to beware of Philip, whom," he said, "Darius 
had prevailed upon, by presents of infinite value, and the 
promise of his daughter in marriage, to take him off by poi- 
son." As soon as Alexander had read the letter, he put it 
under his pillow, without showing it to any of his friends. 
The time Appointed being come, Philip, with the king's friends, 
entered the chamber, having the cup which contained the 
medicine in his hand. The king received it freely, without 
the lenst marks of suspicion, and at the same time put the 
letter in his hands. It was a striking situation, and more in- 
teresting than any scene in a tragedy ; the one reading while 
the other was drinking. They looked upon each other, but 
with a very different air. The king, with an open and un- 



ALEXANDER. 



embarrassed countenance, expressed his regard for Philip, 
and the confidence lie had in his honor ; Philip's looks showed 
his indignation at the calumny. One, while he lifted up his 
eyes and hands to heaven, protesting his fidelity; another, 
while he threw himself down by the bedside, entreating his 
master to be of good courage and trust to his care. 

The medicine, indeed, was too strong, and overpowered his 
spirits in such a manner, that at first he was speechless, and 
discovered scarce any sign of sense or life, but afterward he 
was soon relieved by his faithful physician, and recovered so 
well, that he was able to show himself to the Macedonians, 
whose distress did not abate till he came personally before 
them. 

His victory over Darius was a very signal one; for he 
killed above a hundred and ten thousand of the enemy. 
Nothing was wanting to complete it but the taking of Darius, 
and that prince escaped narrowly, having got the start of his 
pursuer only by four or five furlongs. Alexander took his 
chariot and his bow, and returned with them to his Macedo- 
nians. He found them loading themselves with the plunder 
<>f the enemy's camp, which was rich and various; though 
Darius, to mnke his troops fitter for action, had left most of 
the baggage in Damascus. The Macedonians had reserved 
for their master the tent of Darius, in which he found officers 
of the household magnificently clothed, rich furniture, and 
great quantities of gold and silver. 

As soon as he had put off his armor, he went to the bath, 
saying to those about him, " Let us go and refresh ourselves, 
after the fatigues of the field, in the bath of Darius." " Nay, 
rather," said one of his friends, "in the bath of Alexander; 
for the goods of the conquered are, and shall be called, the 
conqueror's." When he had taken a view of the basins, 
vials, boxes, and other vases curiously wrought in gold, 
smelled the fragrant odors of essences, and seen the splen- 
did furniture of the spacious apartments, he turned to 



ALEXANDER. 



his friends, and said, "This, then, it seems, it was to be a 
king!" 

Some time after this he received a letter from Darius, in 
which that prince proposed, on condition of pacification and 
future friendship, to pay him ten thousand talents in ransom 
of the prisoners, to cede to him all the countries on this side 
the Euphrates, and to give him his daughter in marriage. 
Upon his communicating these proposals to his friends, Par- 
menio said, " If I were Alexander, I would accept them." 
" So would I," said Alexander, " if I were Parmenio." The 
answer he gave Darius was, " That if he would come to him, 
he should find the best of treatment ; if not, he must go and 
seek him." 

The great battle with Darius was not fought at Arbela, as 
most historians will have it, but at Gaugamela. The oldest 
of Alexander's friends, and Parmenio in particular, when they 
beheld the plain between Niphates and the Gordaen Mount- 
ains all illuminated with the torches of the barbarians, and 
heard the tumultuary and appalling noise from their camp, 
like the bello wings of an immense sea, were astonished at 
their numbers, and observed among themselves how arduous 
an enterprise it would be to meet such a torrent of war in 
open day. They waited upon the king, therefore, when he 
had finished the sacrifice, and advised him to attack the ene- 
my in the night, when darkness would hide what was most 
dreadful in the combat. Upon which he gave them that 
celebrated answer, " I will not steal a victory." 

When his friends were gone, Alexander retired to rest in 
his tent, and he is said to have slept that night much sounder 
than usual ; insomuch that when his officers came to attend 
him the next day, they could not but express their surprise 
at it, while they were obliged themselves to give out orders 
to the troops to take their morning refreshment. After this, 
as the occasion was urgent, Parmenio entered his apartment, 
and, standing by the bed, called him two or three times by 



ALEXANDER. 



name. Winn he awaked, that officer asked him, "Why he 
slept like a man that had already conquered, and not rather 
like one who had I he greatest battle the world ever heard of 
to fight ? " Alexander smiled at the question, and said, "In 
what light can you look upon us but as conquerors, when we 
have not now to traverse desolate countries in pursuit of 
Darius, and he no longer declines the combat ? " 

He came ready armed out of his tent. He had a short 
coat of the Sicilian fashion girt close about him, and over 
that a breastplate of linen strongly quilted, which was found 
among the spoils at the battle of Issus. His helmet, the 
workmanship of Theophilus, was of iron, but so well polished 
that it shone like the brightest silver. To this was fitted a 
gorget of the same metal, set with precious stones. His 
sword, the weapon he generally used in battle, was a present 
from the king of the Citeans, and could not be excelled for 
lightness or for temper. But the belt, which he wore in all 
enoaaementp, was more superb than the rest of his armor. 
It was given him by the Rhodians, as a mark of their respect, 
and old Helicon had exerted all his art in it. In drawing up 
his army and giving orders, as well as exercising and review- 
ing it, he spared Bucephalus on account of his age, and rode 
another horse; but he constantly charged upon him ; and he 
had no sooner mounted him than the signal was always given. 

The result of the battle being the defeat of Darius, the 
Persian empire appeared to be entirely destroyed, and Alex- 
ander was acknowledged king of all Asia. 

The first time he sat down on the throne of the kings of 
Persia, under a golden canopy, Demaratus, the Corinthian, 
who had the same friendship and affection for Alexander as 
he had entertained for his father, Philip, is said to have wept 
like an old man, while he uttered this exclamation : " What 
a pleasure have those Greeks missed who died without see- 
ing Alexander seated on the throne of Darius ! " 

As he was naturally munificent, that inclination increased 



ALtiXANl)ER. 9 



with his extraordinary acquisitions ; and he had also a 
gracious manner, which is the only thing that gives bounty 
an irresistible charm. To give a few instances : One clay, as 
a Macedonian of mean circumstances was driving a mule, 
laden with the king's money, the mule tired; the man then 
took the burden upon his own shoulders, and carried it till 
he tottered under it, and was ready to give out. Alexander 
happening to see him, and being informed what it was, said, 
" Hold on, friend, the rest of the way, and carry it to your 
own tent, for it is yours." Indeed, he was generally more 
offended at those who refused his presents than at those who 
asked favors of him. Hence he wrote to Phocion, "That he 
could no longer number him among his friends, if he rejected 
the marks of his regard." He had given nothing to Serapion, 
one of the youths that played with him at ball, because he 
asked nothing. One day, when they were at their diversion, 
Serapion took care always to throw the ball to others in the 
party; upon which Alexander said, "Why do you not give 
it me ? " Because you did not ask for it," said the youth. 
The repartee pleased the king much; he laughed, and imme- 
diately made him very valuable presents. 

When Alexander was on the point of setting out for India, 
he saw his troops were so laden with spoils that they were 
unfit to march. Therefore, early in the morning that he was 
to take his departure, after the carriages were assembled, he 
first set fire to his own baggage and that of his friends; and 
then gave orders that the rest should be served in the same 
manner. The resolution appeared more difficult to take than 
it was to execute. Few were displeased at it, and numbers 
received it with acclamations of joy. They freely gave part 
of their equipage to such as were in need, and burned and 
destroyed whatever was superfluous. This greatly encour- 
aged and fortiHed Alexander in his design. Besides, by this 
time he was become inflexibly severe in punishing offenses. 
Menauder, one of hid fiieuds, he put to death for refusing to 



10 ALEXANDER. 



stay in a fortress lie had given him the charge of; and one of 
the barbarians, named Osodates, he shot dead with an arrow, 
for the crime of rebellion. 

As to his war with Porus, we have an account of it in his 
own letters. According to them, the river Hydaspes was 
between the two armies, and Porus drew up his elephants on 
the banks opposite the enemy with their heads toward the 
stream, to guard it. Alexander caused a great noise and 
bustle to be made every day in his camp, that the barbarians, 
being accustomed to it, might not be so ready to take the 
alarm. This done, he took the advantage of a dark and 
stormy night, wilh part of his infantry and a select body of 
cavalry, to gain a little island in the river, at some distance 
from the Indians. When he was there, he and his troops 
were attacked with a most violent wind and rain, accom- 
panied with dreadful thunder and lightning. But, notwith- 
standing this hurricane, in which he saw several of his men 
perish by the lightning, he advanced from the island to the 
opposite bank. The Hydaspes, swelled with the rain, by its 
violence and rapidity made a breach on that side, which re- 
ceived water enough to form a bay, so that when he came to 
land, he found the bank extremely slippery, and the ground 
broken and undermined by the current. On this occasion he 
is said to have uttered that celebrated saying, " Will you be- 
lieve, my Athenian friends, what dangers I undergo, to have 
you the heralds of my fame ? " The last particular we have 
from Onesicritus ; but Alexander himself only says they 
quitted their boats, and, armed as they were, waded up the 
beach breast high; and that when they were landed, he ad- 
vanced with the horse twenty furlongs before the foot, con- 
cluding that if the enemy attacked him with their cavalry, 
he should be greatly their superior, and that if they made a 
movement with their infantry, his would come up in time 
enough to receive them. Nor did he judge amiss. The 
enemy detached against him a thousand horse and sixty 



ALEXANDflti. ii 



armed chariots, and he defeated them with ease. The chariots 
he took, and killed four hundred of the cavalry upon the spot. 
By this, Porus understood that Alexander himself had passed 
the river, and therefore brought up his whole army, except 
what appeared necessary to keep the rest of the Macedonians 
from making good their passage. Alexander, considering the 
force of the elephants and the enemy's numbers, did not 
choose to engage them in front, but attacked the left wing 
himself, while Ccenus, according to his orders, fell upon the 
right. Both wings, being broken, retired to the elephants in 
the center, and rallied there. The combat then was of a 
more mixed kind; but maintained with such obstinacy that 
it was not decided till the eighth hour of the day. This de- 
scription of the battle we have from the conqueror himself, in 
one of his epistles. 

Most historians agree that Porus was four cubits and a 
palm high, and that though the elephant he rode was one of 
the largest, his stature and bulk were such, that he appeared 
but proportionably mounted. This elephant, during the whole 
battle, gave extraordinary proofs of his sagacity and care of 
the king's person. As long as that prince was able to fight, 
he defended him with great courage, and repulsed all assail- 
ants ; and when he perceived him ready to sink under the 
multitude of darts and wounds with which he was covered, 
to prevent his falling off he kneeled clown in the softest man- 
ner, and with his proboscis gently drew every dart out of his 
body. 

When Porus was taken prisoner, Alexander asked him, 
" How he desired to be treated ? " 

He answered, " Like a king." 

" And have you nothing else to request ? " replied Alexan- 
der. 

" No," said he; " every thing is comprehended in the word 
'king.'" 

Alexander not only restored him his own dominions 



i£ ALEXANDER. 



immediately, which he was to govern as his lieutenant, but 
added very extensive territories to them ; for, having subdued 
a free country, which contained fifteen nations, five thousand 
considerable cities, and villages in proportion, he bestowed it 
on Porus. Another country, three times as large, he gave to 
Philip, one of his friends, who was also to act there as his 
lieutenant. 

In the battle with Porus, Bucephalus received several 
wounds, of which he died some time after. This is the ac- 
count most writers give us ; but Onesicritus says, he died of 
age and fatigue, for he was thirty years old. Alexander 
showed as much regret as if he had lost a faithful friend and 
companion. He esteemed him, indeed, as such ; and built a 
city near the Hydaspes, in the place where he was buried, 
which he called after him, Bueephalia. 

Alexander formed a design to see the ocean, for which pur- 
pose he caused a number of row-boats and rafts to be con- 
structed, and, upon them, fell down the rivers at his leisure. 
However, lie was very near being cut in pieces by the Malli, 
who are called the most warlike people in India. He had 
driven some of ihem from the wall with his missive weapons, 
and was the first man that ascended it. But presently after 
he was up, the scaling ladder broke. Finding himself and 
the small company much galled by the darts of the barbarians 
from below, he poised himself, and leaped down into the 
midst of the enemy. By good fortune he fell upon his feet; 
and the barbarians were so astonished at the flashing of his 
arms as he came down, that they thought they beheld light- 
ning, or some supernatural splendor, issuing from his body. 
At first, therefore, they drew back and dispersed. But when 
they had recollected themselves, and saw him attended by 
only two of his guards, they attacked him hand to hand, and 
wounded him through his armor with their swords and spears, 
notwithstanding the valor with which he fought. One of 
them standing farther off, drew an arrow with such strength, 



ALEXANDER. 13 



that it made its way through his cuirass, and entered the 
breast. Its force was so great that he gave back and was 
brought upon his knees, and the barbarian ran up with his 
drawn scimitar to dispatch him. Peucestas and Limngeus 
placed themselves before him, but one was wounded and the 
other killed. Peucestas, who survived, was still making some 
resistance, when Alexander recovered himself and laid the 
barbarian at his feet. The king, however, received new 
wounds, and at last had such a blow from a bludgeon upon 
his neck, that he was forced to support himself by the wall, 
and there stood with his face to the enemy. The Mace- 
donians, who by this time had got in, gathered about him, 
and carried him off to his tent. 

His senses were gone, and it was the current report in the 
army that he was dead. When they had, with great diffi- 
culty, sawed off the shaft, which was of wood, and with 
equal trouble had taken off the cuirass, they proceeded to 
extract the head, which was three fingers broad and four 
long, and stuck fast in the bone. He fainted under the ope- 
ration, and was very near expiring ; but when the head was 
got out, he came to himself. Yet, after the danger was over, 
he continued weak, and a long time confined himself to a 
regular diet, attending solely to the cure of his wound. 

After returning from the ocean aud giving his army some 
time to refresh themselves, he marched in Carmania for seven 
days in a kind of Bacchanalian procession. His chariot, 
which was very magnificent, was drawn by eight horses. 
Upon it was placed a lofty platform, where he and his princi- 
pal friends reveled day aud night. This carriage was fol- 
lowed by many others, some covered with rich tapestry and 
purple hangings, and others shaded with branches of trees 
fresh gathered and flourishing. In these were the rest of the 
king's friends and generals, crowned with flowers and exhil- 
arated with wine. 

In this whole company there was not to be seen a buckler, 



14 ALEXANDEB. 



a helmet, or spear; but, instead of them, cups, flagons, and 
goblets. These the soldiers dipped in huge vessels of wine, 
and drank to each other, some as they inarched along, and 
others seated at tables, which were placed at proper distances 
on the way. The whole army resounded with flutes, clarionets, 
and songs, and with dances and riotous frolics. 

When Alexander had once given himself up to superstition, 
his mind was so preyed upon by vain fears and anxieties, that 
he turned the least incident, which was any thing strange and 
out of the way, into a sign or a prodigy. The court swarmed 
with sacrificers, purifiers, and prognosticators; they were all 
to be seen exercising their talents there. So true it is, that 
though the disbelief of religion and contempt for things 
divine is a great evil, yet superstition is a greater. For as 
water gains on low grounds, so superstition prevails over 
a dejected mind, and fills it with fear and folly. This was 
entirely Alexander's case. 

One day, after he had given Nearchus a sumptuous treat, 
be went, according to custom, to refresh himself in the bath, 
in order to retire to rest. But in the meantime Medius came 
and invited him to take part in a carousal, and he could not 
deny him. There he drank all that night and the next day, 
till at last he found a fever coming upon him. It did not, 
however, seize him as he was drinking the cup of Hercules, 
nor did he find a certain pain in his back, as it had been 
pierced by a spear. These are circumstances invented by 
writers, who thought the catastrophe of so noble a tragedy 
should be something affecting and extraordinary. Aristobu- 
lus tells us that, in the rage of his fever and the violence of 
his thirst, he took a draught of wine which threw him into a 
frenzy, and that he died the thirteenth of the month Daesius, 
(June.) 

But in his journals the account of his sickness is as follows : 
" On the eighteenth of the month Daesius, finding the fever 
upon him, he lay in his bath-room. The next day, after he 



ALEXANDER. 15 



had bathed, he removed into his own chamber, and played 
many hours with Medius at dice. In the even he bathed 
again, and after having sacrificed to the gods, he ate his sup- 
per. In the night the fever returned. The twentieth, he also 
bathed, and after the customary sacrifice, sat in the bath- 
room, and diverted himself with hearing Nearchus tell the 
story of his voyage, and all that was most observable with 
respect to the ocean. The twenty-first was spent in the same 
manner. The fever increased, and he had a very bad night. 
The twenty-second, the fever was violent. He ordered his 
bed to be removed and placed by the great bath. There he 
talked to his generals about the vacancies in his army, and 
desired they might be filled up with experienced officers. 
The twenty-fourth, he was much worse. He chose, however, 
to be carried to assist at the sacrifice. He likewise gave 
orders that the principal officers of the army should wait 
within the court, and the others keep watch all night without. 
The twenty-fifth, he was removed to his palace on the other 
side of the river, where he slept a little, but the fever did not 
abate; and when his generals entered the room he was 
speechless. He continued so the day following. The Mace- 
donians, by this time thinking he was dead, came to the gates 
with great clamor, and threatened the great officers in such a 
manner that they were forced to admit them, and suffer them 
all to pass unarmed by the bedside. The twenty-seventh, 
Python and Seleucus were sent to the temple of Serapis, to 
inquire whether they should carry Alexander thither, and 
the deity ordered that they should not remove him. The 
twenty-eighth, in the evening, he died." These particulars 

are taken almost word for word from his diary. 

There was no suspicion at the time of his death ; but six 
years after (we are told) Olympias, upon some information, 
put a number of people to death, and ordered the remains of 
Iola", who was supposed to have given him the draught, to 
be dug out of the grave. Those who say Aristotle advised 



16 ALEXANDER. 

Antipater to such a horrid deed, and furnished him with the 
poison he sent to Babylon, allege one Agnothemis as their 
author, who is pretended to have had the information from 
King Antigonus. They add, that the poison was a water of 
a cold and deadly quality, which distills from a rock in the 
territory of Nonacris ; and that they receive it as they would 
do so many dew-drops, and keep it in an ass' hoof; its ex- 
treme coldne-s and acrimony being such that it makes its 
way through all other vessels. The generality, however, look 
upon the story of the poison as a mere fable; and they have 
this strong argument in their favor, that though, on account 
of the disputes which the great officers were engaged in for 
many days, the body lay unembalmed in a sultry place, it 
had no sign of any taint, but continued fresh and clear. 



^^I_iE Z^-^UST DER. 
[thought-outline to help the memory.] 

1. Birth? Early characteristics? Story of the horse. Aristotle's pupil? 

Diogenes? Delphic oracle? Gordian knot? Gaugamela? His armor? 
Victory ? 

2. His generosity ? India? Poms a prisoner? His request? 

3. Desire to see the ocean ? Great daring ? Dangerous wounds ? Eecovery and 

triumph ? 

4. Superstition ? Drinking to excess ? Death ? 

5. Notes from Journal of Alexander ? Suspicions of poison ? 



THE WARRIOR. 

"Then did J beat them as small as the dust of the earth: I did stamp 
them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad." — 2 Sam. xxii, 43. 

"Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be 
none." — Ezek. vii, 25. 

" Deliver me, Lord, from the evil man : preserve me from the violent 
man; which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered 
together for war." — Psa. cxl, 1, 2. 

"He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall 
make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the 
buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls 
and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abun- 
dance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the 
noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall 
enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. 
With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets : he shall 
slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the 
ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy 
merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleas- 
ant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in 
the midst of the water. And I will cause the noise of thy songs 'to cease ; 
and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard."— Ezek. xxvi, 8-13. 

"Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled 
in blood."— Isa. ix, 5. 

"One to destroy, is murder by the law; 

And gibbeis keep the lifted hand in awe; 

To murder thousands takes a specious name, 

War's glorious art, and gives immortal fame.'"— Young. 
"Is it, man, with such discordant noises, 

With such accursed instruments as these, 
Thou drownest Nature's sweet and kindly voices, 

And jarrest the celestial harmonies? "—Longfellow. 

" To overcome in battle, and subdue 

Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite 

Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch 

Of human glory."— Milton. 

"Nothing but a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won "— 
Wellington. 



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